Ear wire



July 15, 1958 R. c. BANGS 2,842,825

EAR WIRE Filed March 15, 1954 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Edd-2,825 Patented July 15, 1958 ice EAR WERE Ralph C. Bangs, Providence, R. L, assignor to tloro, End, a corporation of Rhode island Appiication M arch 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,037

3 Claims. (Cl. 2 3 252) This invention relates to jewelry,constructions, and has particular reference to a novel ear wire for mounting an earring on the lobe of the ear.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an ear wire which gently grips the ear lobe with a secure hold.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ear wire which spring positions the ear lobe engaging parts in release resisting camming position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spring positioned movable ear wire element with manually engageable means for moving the element to ear lobe releasing position.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a simple and effective ear wire of novel construction.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel on rangemcnt of parts, more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompan ing drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative ear wire embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the ear wire in ear lobe re ceiving position, the ear lobe being indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the parts being shown in ear lobe gripping position;

Fig. 4 is a central vertical section through Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the movable element;

Pig. 6 is atop plan view of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank for the ear wire body; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the cam spring and its cam engaging plug.

it has been found desirable to provide an ear wire of the movable cam type, which is adapted to receive an ear lobe between a movable element and a fixed element, the movable element being mounted to move toward the fixed element upon disengaging movement of the ear lobe, to tighten the holding grip. To this end, I form my improved ear wire in U shape, and I pivot a movable element on one side to swing towards the other side for engaging an ear lobe therebetween; i provide a resilient spring means to swing the movable element towards ear lobe engaging position, and I equip said element with a finger engageable tab so that it may be manually turned into ear lobe disengaging relation.

Referring to the drawings, the illustrative ear Wire 1d includes a body member iii which is generally of U- shape, with a narrow lower bar 12 and two sides, one side 13 having an enlarged upper end dished or cupped to provide a fixed abutment 14 for engaging the front ear lobe surface, and the other side 15 being a tubular post, and pivotally mounting a movable element 16 at its upper end.

The movable element 16, see Figs. 5 and 6, includes a rear cam 17 with a pivot opening 18 and a lower arcuate cam face 19 eccentric with respect to the pivot opening, the movable element having a rearwardly extending finger engageable tab 20. The movable element has an enlarged forward part 21 which is preferably integral, and is dished and curved as illustrated, to engage the back ear lobe surface.

The hollow post 15 has two spaced upstanding pivot cars 22 with aligned pivot openings 23, for receiving the cam therebetween, a pivot pin 24 through the aligned openings 23 and the opening 18, whereby the element may swing as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. A compression spring 25 and an associated plug 26 are mounted in the hollow post, the lower end of the spring 25 being seated on the body member lower portion 12, and resiliently pressing the plug 26 against the cam face 19, whereby the cam element is continually urged upwardly as shown in Fig. 1.

The preferred construction for the ear wire body member includes a blank 27, see Fig. 7, having an upper rectangular section 28 adapted to be rolled or shaped to provide the hollow post 15, see Fig. 4, in which the spring 25 and the plug 26 are housed, a narrow portion 29 which is adapted to be bent up to provide the lower ear wire bar 12 and part of the side 13, and a circular terminal 30 which is dished and curved to form the fixed ear lobe abutment 14. The upper rectangular section 28 has a projecting end portion 31 provided with two spaced and pierced lugs 32 which form the pivot cars 22. t

In mounting and dismounting an earring having the novel ear wire, the tab 26 is pressed up to turn the movable element down, see Fig. 2, whereupon the ear lobe is readily received between said element part 21 and the abutment 14. The tab 20 being released, the movable element is spring pressed to ear lobe engaging position, as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon any downward pull of the ear wire on the ear lobe tightens the grip. The grip is readily released by moving the tab 20 upwardly to shift the movable element to the position shown in Fig. 2.

Although I have disclosed a specific constructional feature of my invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An ear wire construction comprising a substantially U-shaped body member having a pair of upwardly extending oppositely disposed sides interconnected by a bottom cross bar, one of said sides having a fixed ear lobe engaging abutment, the other of said sides comprising a fixed tubular post having a pair of spaced upstanding pivot ears at its upper extremity, a movable element pivotally mounted between said ears for movement to ear lobe clamping position with respect to said fixed abutment, said movable element having a cam edge eccentrically disposed with respect to its pivot axis, and spring means within said tubular post in engagement with said eccentric cam edge for resiliently maintaining said movable element in ear lobe clamping position.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said spring means comprising a compression spring having a plunger at its cam engaging extremity.

3. In the combination of claim 1, said movable element having a manually engageable tab for facilitating movement of said element against the resilient pressure of the spring means.

(References on following page) a 0 References Cited in the file of this patent 1,973,282 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 23 6 3; 483,963 Leger Oct. 4, 1892 687,446 Washburn Nov. 26, 1901 5 750,634 Gable Ian. 26, 1904 762,329 1,275,582 Mascellino Aug. 13, 1918 895,670 1,702,954 Title Feb. 19, 1929 4 Brush Sept. 11, 1934 Bazner Nov. 20, 1945 Gray Nov. 16, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS France 1934 France Jan. 31, 1945 

